Gustavo Lauria waved to passersby for help, despite his injured arm.
Lauria, 51, of Key Biscayne, had been struck by a vehicle at 9:12 p.m. May 21 while walking in the 300 block of North Bay Boulevard near Hibiscus in Anna Maria, according to a Florida traffic crash report from the state highway patrol.
The motorist in the southbound red sedan did not stop.
Neither did passersby in at least three vehicles.
Now Lauria, who was hospitalized and underwent surgery, is seeking witnesses and asking Islander readers to assist with finding the motorist.
“If anyone knows someone who lives in the area who may have details, may have witnessed the accident, may have seen a red sedan speeding at the time and made note of it … missing a right mirror, I would appreciate any information,” Lauria wrote to The Islander.
Lauria, in his statement to the newspaper, described himself as a “family man” who was born in Argentina, became a U.S. citizen many years ago and built his life “around the world of information technology.”
He and his family chose Anna Maria Island as a place to enjoy “a little sunshine on these gray COVID-19 days.”
Lauria had taken in a sunset May 21 and was walking home, along the right shoulder of southbound North Bay Boulevard when he was struck by a vehicle.
The FHP said there were no skid marks found.
“I am instantly in the air, not knowing how I am going to land, and, when I do, I am looking at the sky, feeling numb,” he said.
He felt pain — “a lot of it.”
And he could see the bone protruding from the skin near his elbow.
“A right, side mirror is on the ground on the road, a few steps from me,” he continued. “The car that hit me is still going, it is not stopping.”
Lauria stood and waved with his uninjured arm at a passing motorist, who kept going, and then a second motorist and a third.
“They just pass next to me without even paying attention,” he said of the six people traveling in a golf cart.
The driver in a fourth vehicle stopped to assist and call first responders, including law enforcement and paramedics.
Lauria said he spent five days recovering at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton from “multiple concussions, a big hematoma, an open fracture and a baseball-sized clot.”
As of June 1, he was back at home in Anna Maria but still recovering — from his physical injuries, being a victim of a crime and being ignored by the roadside.
The FHP report said the “case is closed due to lack of information” but it “will be reopened if further leads arise.”
How to help
Gustavo Lauria can be reached by email at lauriagustavo@gmail.com.
I hope you continue to heal and that someone will investigate the crime thoroughly and properly and find out who is responsible.
thanks for the note! any information of the aggressor or additional information is appreciated!